BIOL 5535.60
Neotropical Rainforest Ecology
nd
2 Five Week Summer Term 2005
Syllabus
Class meetings:
Instructor:
Office:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Office hours:
Webpage:
Text:
Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 3:00-6:00pm; Bayou Building 3326
Dr. Cindy Howard
Bayou Bldg. Faculty Suite 3525
(281) 283-3745
howardc@cl.uh.edu (best way to contact me)
M T W 1:00-3:00 pm; other times by appointment
http://sce.uhcl.edu/howard/
Kricher, J. 1999. A neotropical companion: an introduction to the animals, plants and
ecosystems of the new world tropics. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton,
NJ. 451p.
Lecture outlines and handout materials. Most will be available on the webpage under this
course rubric and number on the day of each presentation (http://sce.uhcl.edu/howard).
Additional sources for material presented in class
Bartlett, R.D, and P. Bartlett. 2003. Reptiles and amphibians of the Amazon. University Press of Florida, Gainesville,
FL. 291 pp.
Castner, J.L., S.L. Timme and J.A. Duke. 1998. A field guide to medicinal and useful plants of the upper Amazon.
Feline Press, Gainesville, FL. 154 pp.
Forsyth, A. and K. Miyata. 1984. Tropical nature. Scribners Publishers, New York, NY.
Goulding, M. 1980. The fishes and the forest: explorations in Amazonian natural history. University of California
Press, Berkeley, CA. 253 pp.
Gentry, A.H. 1993. A field guide to the woody plants of northwest South America. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago,
IL. 895 pp.
Gentry, A.H., ed. 1990. Four neotropical rainforests. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT. 627 pp.
Henderson, A. 1995. The palms of the Amazon. Oxford Univ. Press, New York, NY. 362 pp.
Hilty, S. 1994. Birds of tropical America: a watcher’s introduction to behavior, breeding and diversity. Chapters
Publishing, Ltd., Shelburne, VT. 304 pp.
Holm-Nielsen, L.B., I.C. Nielsen and H. Balslev, eds. 1989. Tropical forests: botanical dynamics, speciation and
diversity. Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, New York, NY. 380 pp.
Jordan, C.F., ed. 1986. Amazonian rain forests: ecosystem disturbance and recovery. Springer-Verlag Ecological
Studies, Berlin. 133 pp.
Junk, W.J. 1997. The central Amazon floodplain: ecology of a pulsing system. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 525 pp.
Maas, P.J.M. and L.Y.Th. Westra. 1993. Neotropical plant families: a concise guide to families of vascular plants in
the neotropics. Koeltz Scientific Books, Champaign, IL.. 289 pp.
Mabberley, D.J. 1992. Tropical rain forest ecology, 2nd ed. Chapman and Hall Publishers, New York, NY.
Orians, G.H., R. Dirzo and J. H. Cushman, eds. 1996. Biodiversity and ecosystem processes in tropical forests.
Springer-Verlag Ecological Studies, Berlin. 229 pp.
Prance, G.T. and J.A. Kallunk, eds. 1984. Ethnobotany in the neotropics. Advances in Economic Botany, Vol. 1. The
New York Botanical Garden, The Bronx, NY. 156 pp.
Prance, G.T. and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. 1985. Key environments: Amazonia. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 442 pp.
Seidl, P.R., O.R. Gottlieb and M.A. Coelho Kaplan. 1995. Chemistry of the Amazon: biodiversity, natural products and
environmental issues. ACS Symposium Series 588. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. 315 pp.
Sick, H. 1993. Birds in Brazil: a natural history. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Slater, C. 2002. Entangled Edens: visions of the Amazon. Univ. California Press, Berkeley, CA. 332 pp.
Smith, N.J.H. 1999. The Amazon River forest: a natural history of plants, animals and
people. Oxford University
Press, New York. 208 pp.
Val, A.L.. and V.M.F. de Almeida-Val. 1995. Fishes of the Amazon and their environment: physiological and
biochemical aspects. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 224 pp.
Whitmore, T.C. and J.A. Sayer, eds. Tropical deforestation and species extinction. Chapman and Hall, London. 153
pp.
1
Prerequisite: General ecology recommended.
Course objective:
To provide students with a conceptual and working knowledge of tropical rainforest ecology, particularly the
neotropical rainforest of the Amazon basin. Topics covered include physical and geological characteristics;
ecology, taxonomy and natural history of tropical plants and animals; coevolutionary relationships between
plants and animals; and forest-human interactions.
Methodology:
Class lectures and discussions, video and slide presentations. Lecture attendance is strongly
recommended as the exams will cover material presented in lectures that is not necessarily found in the
textbook. All students who successfully complete this course will be eligible for discounted costs on any
future UHCL Amazon expedition.
Grading:
There will be three exams given in this course. Exams will cover all material presented in class, as well as
reading assignments and videos. Each exam will consist of three parts and will be worth one third of the
final course grade. The three exam parts will consist of (1) a required, closed book/note objective section,
(2) a required, closed book/note, short essay section, and (3) an optional, closed book/note, extra-credit
taxonomy section. There will be no comprehensive final exam.
Grading scale:
A
AB+
B
92-100%
88-92%
86-87%
80-85%
BC+
C
C-
78-79%
76-77%
70-75%
68-69%
D+
D
DF
66-67%
60-65%
58-59%
<58%
All students are expected to take exams on the dates scheduled on the syllabus. Make-up exams will be
given only if (1) alternate arrangements were made with the instructor prior to the scheduled test
date or (2) the student provides a physician’s excuse for illness. All make-up exams will be
administered following Exam 3 on August 3, 2005.
Incompletes and withdrawals:
The last date to drop this course without a grade penalty is July 25, 2005. In accordance with UHCL
policy, an incomplete grade (I) can only be assigned if the student is making satisfactory progress, but
cannot complete the course for a documentable reason.
Academic Honesty:
Please review the UHCL Academic Honesty Policy in the current catalog. All students are expected to
abide by the UHCL Honesty Code, which states, “I will be honest in all my academic activities and will not
tolerate dishonesty.” Your participation in this class constitutes your acceptance of the UHCL Academic
Honesty Policy.
Disabilities:
Students with disabilities requiring consideration with regard to exams, note-taking, etc. (ADA, Section 503)
should notify the instructor and consult the Disabilities Services Office for assistance. Tape recorders are
permitted in class.
2
BIOL 5535
Tropical Rainforest Ecology
2nd 5-week Summer Term 2005
Bayou Building 3326
M T W 3:00-6:00 pm
Course outline (subject to revision):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date
Topic
Reading Assignment
(Kricher 1999)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week #1
07/05/05
Introduction to tropical rain forests and the Amazon
1, 2, 3
07/06/05
Amazon rainforest geomorphology and soils, plant communities
3, 4
07/11/05
Neotropical rainforest plant ecology and succession
2, 3, 8
07/12/05
Exam 1
Plant - animal coevolutionary relationships 1
3, 5, 6
Week #2
07/13/05
Videos (Amazon: Land of the Flooded Forest,
South America Revealed: Amazon))
Week #3
07/18/05
Plant - animal coevolutionary relationships 2
Ecology of Amazon insects
3, 5, 6
07/19/05
Ecology of Amazon fish
8
07/20/05
Ecology of neotropical reptiles and amphibians
8, 13
Week #4
07/25/05
Exam 2
Video (Anaconda: Giant Snake of the Amazon)
07/26/05
Ecology of neotropical birds
8, 12
07/27/05
Ecology of neotropical mammals
Video (Rainforest Cats)
8, 13
08/01/05
Amazon ethnobotany
6, 7
08/02/05
Conservation issues in the neotropics
7, 14
08/03/05
Exam 3
Week #5
3